“I would say my most memorable foster is the one barking his head off inside right now,” Board President of Lucky Tales Rescue Laura Morgan said. “He cost us probably close to $20,000 in vetting.”
Though Laura Morgan and her husband Spencer Morgan—also a Lucky Tales rescue board member—”foster failed” their dog, Kimber, the nonprofit that they helped create allows cats and dogs to stay in the comfort of a foster home and get to learn the animals’ personalities and work with them on house training until they find their forever homes.
The rescue was founded in 2015 and mainly fosters in the Northern Kentucky area; however, the furthest south they reach is Georgetown, with one foster as north as Hillsboro, Ohio. Their dogs and cats are sourced from the local county shelters, and Lucky Tales Rescue provides resources to its fosters, like food and crates.
Vetting costs are another large undertaking for the organization. Morgan said they have roughly $80,000 to $100,000 in vet bills annually. When Kimber came to them, initially as a foster at six months old, he had dysplasia, which required surgery. The surgery caused his pelvis to fracture, and 48 hours later, they were back at the vet for a second surgery. Morgan said that because they had to open him back up, he got the dog version of MRSA, a treatment-resistant infection that ate away at his tissue.
“Because of all of that, he has nerve damage in his hips that causes him to sometimes not be able to urinate,” Morgan said. “So, he’s on medication lifelong, twice daily, and you can’t miss it. Sometimes, even though he’s on medication, he still can’t pee, so my husband and I learned how to catheterize him.”
After caring for him for about a year and a half, Morgan said Kimber had become a part of the family.
One Lucky Tales Rescue foster is Diane Beach, who has been fostering dogs for about two years. She said it’s something she and her daughter like to do together. Her current foster is a dog named Clark, who came to her malnourished with Mange, a skin disease caused by parasitic mites, after he had been abandoned.
“I’ve always loved animals my whole life, so this has been great for us to be able to foster,” she said.
Beach will keep Clark until his weight is up and he recovers from the Mange and says he should be available for adoption in a couple of weeks.
Beach has two rescue dogs of her own and said there have been a few times where they could have foster failed, meaning they would have adopted the dogs they were fostering, but are trying their best not to because she said fostering pulls the animals from situations they might not have another way out of.
“I think just educating people on the importance of rescuing from shelters, as opposed to going to online breeders or breeders in general, I think it’s good to educate people on how you can find great dogs, and you don’t have to go to a breeder to find a dog like Clark,” Beach said.
All animals available for adoption are listed on the rescue’s website. Those who are interested fill out an application, then there is a reference check and a call to the vet to ensure that any animal the applicant has or had in the past was current on vaccinations, and then they do a home visit.
“We’ll go to the prospective adopter’s home, and it’s more of a conversation piece,” Morgan said. “We look at the yard, we look at the home and make sure it’s safe, but it’s also a chance for them to meet the dog and make sure that it’s the right fit for their family.”
The Morgans have volunteered to help animals together since they were dating, and though it’s a volunteer position, Morgan said it’s like a full-time job.
She said one of her favorite adoptions since the creation of Lucky Tales Rescue was a bonded pair of senior cattle dogs named Dixie and Chick.
“God love them; nobody was interested,” Morgan said. “But this pastor came along, and he was interested in one of them, and we said, we’re not willing to separate them; they’ve been together all their life. And he came and met them both, fell in love, and took them home.”
Morgan said recently the pastor held a fundraiser at his church and surprised the rescue with a donation.
Aside from donations, Lucky Tales Rescue relies on its biggest fundraising event, Woof & Wiggle, a dinner silent auction event held on Nov. 4 at Highland Country Club in Fort Thomas to cover its expenses. Morgan said the money they raise at the event helps set them up for the next year, primarily for their vet costs.
